Will Smith as I, Robot 542
BuR4N writes "It looks like Asimov's sci-fi classic, I Robot, is going to be a movie. Shooting starts April next year staring Will Smith and directed by Alex Proyas (Dark City and The Crow).
Being a huge Asimov fan I have not made up my mind if this is a good or bad thing.
"
Bicentennial man (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm not sure the Asimov-worlds my mind has made can coexist with Hollywood ones though.
It's a Good Thing (Score:5, Insightful)
Wasn't I, Robot a collection of short stories? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:One to see (Score:3, Insightful)
Is this going to be a comedy or is Will Smith making another attempt at being taken as a serious actor?
Mis-casting? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm a big Asimov fan (robot/foundation series), but I really can't see Will Smith playing in this. Even in his most serious films (have not seen Ali yet, so I don't know about that one) he's often playing a comic character, and this doesn't exactly fit in the "I Robot" story.
Anybody else that have read the book(s) that like to comment on this?
Re:Mis-casting? (Score:1, Insightful)
Not using Ellison's script? (Score:2, Insightful)
They're not using Harlan Ellison's script [tripod.com]. So I expect that this will suck rocks.
Re:Why no Foundation? (Score:2, Insightful)
The second point is that the story isn't particularly spectacular itself. I mean, fine, save humanity & such, but no real fights, it's more political, psychological, about ideas (so can't easily be ported to screen) than anything else...
I'm also a big Asimov fan (haven't seen Bicentennial Man though), but i'd rather have Foundation not adapted than adapted in a bad movie ^_-
Re:Mis-casting? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Well, at least... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:It's a Good Thing (Score:2, Insightful)
And if the movie is good, people won't bother reading the book, since they (will think they) know the story already....
Honestly, i've almost always been disappointed by movies taken from books...
Re:Disapointment (Score:2, Insightful)
He also did a great job in Ali.
Yes, Will Smith is famous for Being the fresh prince of bel air, a MiB, and a fighter pilot fighting aliens... but when hes serious, the guy can really act.
Pity hes rarely serious.
Re:Is Will Smith going to rap in this movie too? (Score:2, Insightful)
Short Stories? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why no Foundation? (Score:2, Insightful)
Usually, there is some sort of timing or technological issue that makes them unacceptable, such as an interested director being available along with the requisite actors, and interested studio, a period of time since the last sci-fi movie was released, the belief that they can convincingly and interestingly sell the message of the book and still make a tidy profit, etc.
With Ender's Game, the issue is the number of capable child actors needed for the film. In the case of the Foundation series, from what I understand, most script writers have a problem balancing the story between highlighting the ideals of Hari Seldon (the decay of civilization, the development of psychohistory, etc) and an action packed engaging film. Most scripts have either been snoozers (i.e. geeks would probably like them, but everybody else would... YAWN.... zzzz) or an overly action packed filmed that would alienate the diehard fans and make the movie seem to be The Fast and the Furious II: The Psychohistorian's Gambit.
Re:It's a Good Thing (Score:1, Insightful)
Serious Asimov fans may want to skip it (Score:2, Insightful)
From what I recall, Asimov endorsed Harlan Ellison's wonderful script before he died - to make a movie using any other script, especially one barely connected to the stories, is an insult. Guess there aren't any serious sf fans in the Fox executive ranks.
Re:PLEASE don't let it be Madonna (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Dichotomy (Score:3, Insightful)
Never underestimate the directors ability to bring out good performances.
Evidence: Keanu Reeves in The Matrix
We all know that could have been a large ouch.
Re:Disapointment (Score:5, Insightful)
FFS people who say stuff like this piss me off... How can it possibly be a bad thing if somebody makes the worst possible movie about an aasimov story.... is the Judge Dredd comic any worse because they let stallone do that *thing*? Do the original batman movie or comics suck now because of the torture that was batman forever? Is the postman suddenly a crappy book? I'm always happy when there's a sequel or a book -> film adaptation of something I like, because if it sucks like dredd, I'm no worse off (except my friends wanted to kill for saying we should see it)... but if it rules like LOTR it only heightens my enjoyment of an already great story and universe.
</rant>
R. Daneel Olivaw (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Is Will Smith going to rap in this movie too? (Score:2, Insightful)
Oh wait, he didn't rap in that.
Did he rap in Ali?
Oh, he didn't?
Enemy of the State?
Nope there either...
I know, I know... he's made a few bad rap songs for a few questionable movies, but cut the guy some slack. He hasn't done a rap video for *EVERY* movie.
You have GOT to be kidding me (Score:2, Insightful)
Then I took another look. Will Smith is a perfectly acceptible choice, but the article states that the movie is about a detective investigating a crime possibly by robots? "Since humankind is dependent upon robots, there is nothing to stop robots from taking over the world"? [paraphrase] Where did this COME from?
What is worse is that there is a perfectly brilliant script available and perfectly do-able with today's technology, and they ignored this in favor of other sciptwriters. Probably because the brilliant script was written by none other than Harlan Ellison, and people don't like dealing with him.
Get that script (available in book form.) Read it. Create the dream cast in your head. Heck, Will Smith might be a good choice for the central reporter character. But realize that Hollywood doesn't care about quality unless it will bring in the cash, and science fiction is only a euphemism for "futuristic action thriller" to them.
Re:Disapointment (Score:5, Insightful)
That, and for some people, movies tend to imprint images on their imaginations that become somehow indelible. For example, Judge Dredd might be terrific, but I find it impossible to even think the words "Judge Dredd" without envisioning Stallone bellowing "I AM DA LAW!"
If they had cast Stallone as Aragorn in the LOTR movie, and I had seen him bellow "YO, ELENDIL!" as he fights some Orcs -- yes, I might very well think of that every time I read Fellowship again. And that would be bad.
Re:Mis-casting? Not if he's Elija (Score:3, Insightful)
Remember, while the rest of earth society was freaking out at robots, Elija accepted them and found them useful (if inconvenient at times). He was also a bit of a rebel (having to always be "fetched", reprimanded, and ultimately accepting the Outdoors) and stood out from everyone else. He was very good at skipping around the transit system (moving walkways), and was pretty good with his fists.
He also has strong emotional reactions to things like Spacer culture (revulsion and admiration). Smith has no problem with this at all. He even went as far as to have an affair with a Spacer (gasp! horrors!).
Without Ellison's script, it's a dubious project (Score:2, Insightful)
However, he's known for being a cranky pants, plus he's expensive, plus he'd probably want final script approval. In the movie industry's eye, that's three strikes; no movie producer would want to take a risk on something like that, even though the product would be far superior to anything currently on the market. (We could start another thread on the industry's business-before-art motivation, but that's a whole different nasty mess that we'd have to wade through.)
In sum, I don't hold out much hope for a script that's billed as an amalgamation of Vintar's script "Hardwired" plus "I, Robot" plus script doctoring by Hillary Seitz and Akiva Goldsman, and is going through the usual studio mill. My guess is this will be a lowest-common-denominator "thriller" with "dark overtones" aka Bladerunner, but not nearly as intellectual, insightful, visionary, or entertaining.
Good luck to 'em, but I'd much rather see Ellison's script produced. If you can, go find a copy and read it. It's quite a remarkable story, along with insight into the studio process and the fight to get it produced despite the best efforts of studio toads.
Mmh. They keep choosing the wrong book... (Score:2, Insightful)
Personally, I don't understand why is Hollywood (apparently) fascinated with Asimov's robot stories. They're not very cinematic (in a Hollywoodesque sense), as they tend to focus on philosophical, social and ethical consequences of his Three Laws rather than an interesting plot. Thus, they're not very approchable in cinematographic terms without losing an essential common denominator, namely, forcing the reader to think about the real social ramifications and implications of creating autonomous non-human intelligence. Strip an Asimov robot story of this cold intellectual factor, and you get a mediocre and innocuous tear-jerker [imdb.com].
A much better choice for a Hollywood flick would be The End of Eternity [amazon.com], for several reasons,
Uh, perspective? (Score:2, Insightful)